Abstract Although paper chromatography is being promoted as a cost-effective tool for rapid assessment of soil health, few studies have explored the quantitative relationship between chromatogram features and soil health variables, and no studies have investigated the association between chromatogram features and microbial diversity as determined using DNA sequences. We assessed 343 soil samples from varying land uses in southwestern Australia to investigate the relationship between total organic carbon, microbial activity and diversity, salinity and pH levels and 12 chromatogram features. Spearman’s correlations and variance partitioning were used to detect relationships. Although total organic carbon and microbial activity displayed the strongest correlations with chromatogram features, they were not associated with greater development of radial features and median zone radius as expected. This was in contrast to what has been previously reported, implying context dependent responses of chromatogram features to gradients in soil variables. Microbial community structure was found to explain changes in chromatogram features better than the measured soil variables. These results indicate that further studies are necessary before paper chromatography is embraced as a tool for soil health assessment, and raises questions regarding the use of chromatography by community groups as a tool to measure soil health.

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纸色谱法：评估土壤健康的不一致工具

摘要 虽然纸色谱作为一种快速评估土壤健康的经济有效的工具被推广，但很少有研究探讨色谱特征与土壤健康变量之间的定量关系，也没有研究调查色谱特征与微生物多样性之间的关联。使用 DNA 序列。我们评估了来自澳大利亚西南部不同土地用途的 343 份土壤样本，以研究总有机碳、微生物活动和多样性、盐度和 pH 水平以及 12 个色谱图特征之间的关系。Spearman 相关性和方差划分用于检测关系。尽管总有机碳和微生物活动与色谱特征的相关性最强，正如预期的那样，它们与径向特征和中间带半径的更大发展无关。这与之前报道的相反，这意味着色谱特征对土壤变量梯度的上下文相关响应。发现微生物群落结构比测量的土壤变量更能解释色谱特征的变化。这些结果表明，在将纸色谱法作为土壤健康评估工具之前，还需要进一步研究，并提出了有关社区团体使用色谱法作为衡量土壤健康的工具的问题。发现微生物群落结构比测量的土壤变量更能解释色谱特征的变化。这些结果表明，在将纸色谱法作为土壤健康评估工具之前，还需要进一步研究，并提出了有关社区团体使用色谱法作为衡量土壤健康的工具的问题。发现微生物群落结构比测量的土壤变量更能解释色谱特征的变化。这些结果表明，在将纸色谱法作为土壤健康评估工具之前，还需要进一步研究，并提出了有关社区团体使用色谱法作为衡量土壤健康的工具的问题。